Just a curiosity question...

How many of you feel you have a good working knowledge of most or all of the features of your present keyboard?

I look at guys like Fran and others, who seem to be incredibly knowledgeable about their keyboards. They use them to their greatest capacity and potential, getting their kbd to work for them - and in return the kbd becomes a valuable tool, producing the music the player creatively envisions.

Those of us who are hobbyists may not take the time to realize the full potential of our kbd since it's more our hobby rather than our profession.

All that said - have you ever felt that you've outgrown your board - exhausted its use and were ready to move on up to the next level?

(Personally, the last time I ever felt that was with a little Roland EM10 - haha) Ever since that one, I feel I've only scratched the surface of the potential of every board I've had the privilege to own.

In a way, it's a shame, because I feel a need to grow into my keyboard - get more proficient in playing. But all too often I hit the wall of inability. Too bad there's no "Arranger Keyboard 102" or "Making the Most of Your S900" classes to help guys like me to improve. I think, for me, it probably is more of a musical ability rather than merely a mechanical know-how, but the two are inter-related when it comes to arr.kbds.

Sigh...OK, I'm done.
Tim

[This message has been edited by CoasterTim (edited 12-19-2007).]

http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/016629.html


like these?

Visit www.psrtutorial.com
You can learn most everything you need there. Maybe some stuff you don't need.

DonM

Yes, that's an awesome tool! That's what I'm talking about. Now...if only something like that existed for the S900.

Don,
Good suggestion. PSRtutorial is a very helpful site. Been there hundreds of times. Maybe I need to re-visit.

Tim

[This message has been edited by CoasterTim (edited 12-19-2007).]

Hi Tim
People learn best by doing, therefore when you have some spare time, do a quick backup, and then start pressing a few buttons etc, to see what happens.
If it gets totally messed up, re-load the back-up, if you find or learn something NEW then keep it.
Above all don’t be afraid to experiment.
Enjoy life, Enjoy you keyboard

Bill

First you find an itch... then you scratch it.

Generally, those who investigate and delve deeply into their arrangers are those trying to squeeze the most depth and expression out of their playing. If you are as satisfied as many make out with their 'favorites', there is perhaps less incentive to get down and dirty and mess with the finer points of style and sound editing.

I find a willingness to admit that there MIGHT be things that could be improved is the best way to work yourself towards improving them. Once you arrive at that place, the rest is usually just sheer doggedness and determination. It's amazing what you can do with patience and the manual!

The biggest mistake I see is players trying to bite off more than they can chew. Rather than try to grok a concept by attempting an entire piece of music, breaking it down into small steps, and only doing little 8 bar exercises speeds up the learning process. Want to make your own styles? Start by learning how to edit existing styles, perhaps by as simple process as combining existing styles first, then replacing just ONE Part, rather than choke at the start by trying to create an entire style from scratch.

Ditto sound creation, ditto sequence creation....

Baby steps get you there, giant leaps usually lead to crash and burn. Focus on just ONE task at a time, and don't stop until you have it firmly grasped. Then the next, etc., etc..

Keep at it, and it WILL get easier. I promise

A really easy way to start to develope your ability with an arranger keyboard is to edit an existing style. Go into the composer function on your yamaha and simply delete a track. Then try to play something in that track yourself. Change the sounds, Change the quantize rate, Add some additional percussion. Start playing with copying tracks from one group of styles to another. I promise you a whole new world of creativity will open up before you !!!

Dont try and learn every function of the keyboard in a week ! Decide that this month you are going to explore the composer function. And try and make something musical at the end of or during the process. Be even more specific, promise yourself that you are going to play with just the drum track in an existing style, substitute the kick drum from the existing drum family to say a funk or rock kit. See if you can increase the loudness of the hi hat by increaseing the velocity value.

Dont try and do everything at once. Remember you eat an elephant mouthful by mouthful. (never understood why people eat elephants but there ya go !)

Problem is, my desire to play is much stronger than my desire to tinker. As sophisticated a piece of machinery as a Ferrari is, I still just want to drive it, not work on it. I'm one of the ones guilty of only scratching the surface of a lot of my equipment, but I figure playing it well will get me a lot more applause than knowing it well (works with my wife ). I think one of the reasons for my return to my organ roots is the instruments simplicity (but also it's power, if played well). Hearing that down-in-the-dirt, Hammond grit as it screams over everything, gets my juices flowing a lot more than figuring out how to trigger an self-playing, wimpy, arrpeggio. But......if it inspires your playing, by all means, dig into it. Knowledge can never hurt.

chas

How many of you feel you have a good working knowledge of most or all of the features of your present keyboard?
Tim.

I would never but a computer or keyboard that I could master in three months. You learn enough to play your job or entertain yourself. The rest is a journey for those who love to learn and improve. For myself, I get bored when I have learned most of the keyboard.

In answer to Tim question...

I feel that most players know about 40% of the keyboard. The rest falls in between –I don’t need it – or I do not feel like putting in the effort. And I do appreciate those who just wanna play without digging and learning.

I must say one thing about the KN7000 I sold – Working, editing/creating a sequence or style was very friendly. I never grew tired of the styles because I changed them to fit what I was creating. I must now learn how to do the same with the S900. I guess I will have to use my Sonar/Cakewalk program, and that’s not very friendly.

John C.